The primary objective of this study is to find out the satisfiers and dissatisfiers among the salesmen motivation techniques adopted in the retail sector by applying Herzberg two-factor theory and to examine how far the theory is applicable in the emerging retail sector using multivariate analysis. The Herzberg two-factor theory of motivation for retail salesforce was tested using data from 150 salespeople working in the 15 leading retail outlets in the city of Visakhapatnam. For both the factors—hygiene and motivation—the factor analysis was executed separately to identify the most satisfied motivation measures by sales persons. It was found in the study that the salesmen of the retail sector are highly motivated with hygiene factors like social security measures, working conditions, sales incentives and welfare facilities. The salesmen of the retail sector are highly motivated with motivation factors like work-life balance, autonomy at selling, financial stability of the organization and management recognition of sales performance. The results show that the salesmen in retail sector are more satisfied with hygiene factors than motivation factors.

Description

As a part of the Indian government’s strategy to gradually open up the retail sector to foreign competition, the 2005 budget allowed 26% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sector. The previous government (i.e., UPA-II) recently reopened its gates for global retailers by increasing FDI up to 51% in retail sector for multi-branded retailing and 100% for single branded retailing. Some of the global retail giants like Wal-Mart have already started their operations with joint ventures with Indian corporate, whereas others are planning to enter the Indian retail sector with their brands. With the recently changed scenario in Indian retail sector, an attempt has been made to provide assistance to the Indian retailers by informing them about the highly satisfied motivation measures for the salesforce in retail outlets.

Salesmen motivation is an extremely important and complicated topic because of the reason that the individual motivational needs are different from one person to another and the other components of individual behavior like attitude, perception, learning and personality are also different. It has been well studied, but strong disagreement persists. Two of the prominent theories on motivation are from Abraham Maslow and Fredrick Herzberg. The Maslow theory is considered as one of the most famous theories in the field of human motivation and one of the first theories that attempt to describe the human behavior towards satisfying the different human needs. Maslow’s theory deals with the psychological aspects of motivation, while Herzberg’s theory is concerned with the actual instruments that can be used as incentives for employees. Maslow theorizes a five level hierarchy of needs in an effort to explain motivators. He indicates that the lowest unmet need is the one that must be addressed to motivate an individual, and needs should be fulfilled in a hierarchical manner. His five levels from the lowest to the highest are: physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization.